KARACHI: Despite a rapid increase in internet connectivity and genderparity in Pakistan, the country has been ranked lower than India, Iran, SriLanka and even Bangladesh on the Inclusive Internet Index of the EconomistIntelligence Unit (EIU), primarily due to unavailability of content inlocal language.
On the index, Pakistan stood at the 68th place out of 86 countriessurveyed, with a mean score of 54.5 relative to the South Asian average of61.
In the country, 3G/4G services have been spreading at an appreciable pace,which has opened doors to digitalisation of various services, scalabilityof e-commerce, dissemination of agricultural knowledge and online access tovarious government-to-citizen services.
“Cross-country statistics reveal that there exists ample room forimprovement in this (internet inclusiveness) regard,” stated the State Bankof Pakistan (SBP) report for the third quarter of the fiscal year 2017-18.
Among four dimensions considered for the ranking – availability,affordability, relevance, and readiness, Pakistan showed average-to-poorperformance in all of them, the report said.
Under the availability dimension which included the use of infrastructureand electricity and quality of internet access, Pakistan was placed at alow 77th rank. It also considered the disparity between the number of maleand female internet users.
In fact, Pakistan is ranked the lowest worldwide in gender access paritywith 266% gap in internet access rates and 121.2% gap in mobile ownershipin favour of men.
“This poses policy challenge in light of currently underway NationalFinancial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS),” stated the quarterly report.
Customer illiteracy also has a great role in Pakistan’s low ranking. A poorliteracy rate and sub-optimal web accessibility have led the country postthe second lowest score in the digital literacy environment indicator.
However, on the parameters of conducive policy, regulations, and trust ofgovernment, Pakistan did well and was ranked 15th, which helped enhance theoverall ranking. Good services from wireless internet providers due to thecompetitive environment in the industry aided Pakistan on the affordabilityfront with a ranking of 43.
The index measures affordability in terms of cost of gaining access to theinternet with respect to per capita income in the country, followed bycompetitiveness in the internet marketplace that helps keep prices down.
Pakistan ranks a joint-first in the wireless operator category alongside 23other countries.
On the consumer side, however, the performance is not at all satisfactorydue to high mobile phone cost and substantial pre- and post-paid tariffs,said the SBP report.
Owing to unavailability of local content, Pakistan remained very poor onthe relevance parameter, which measures the online availability of localand relevant content to the public.
As the literacy rate is low in Pakistan, people do not understand thecontent in the English medium of instructions, which is not present intheir own languages and therefore there is very less utility for them. Inthis area, Pakistan fared badly compared to regional and worldwidecounterparts with an overall ranking of 70.